Poppy's family responded to my call out for people who would like to be involved in my portrait series "The view from my window" (portraits taken through the window during the Spring lockdown for Covid-19)
Speaking to friends and family during this time, I was struck by the difference in people's experiences, and how the period of lockdown had individually affected them, and so alongside the portrait series I asked people to let me know how they had felt over such a strange and unusual time. At some point in the future, I will be returning to each of the participants houses to take a picture of the view looking out.
I originally photographed Poppy together with her Mum and Dad, but when she told me what she had been doing over lockdown I asked if she would also be willing to sit for an individual portrait and share her story with me.
‘Initially the lockdown was a bit of a relief to me as I’d been finding college quite stressful and I felt like I needed a break from everything. However, as it’s gone on I’ve found it increasingly difficult to be away from my friends and having to complete my college work from home. ⠀⠀
I think having so much time to be creative can be quite overwhelming for a lot of people and I’ve definitely felt that. I try to remind myself that it’s not about that and the reality is we’re trying to save the spread of a global pandemic and everyone hasn’t been locked inside to compete against each other to see who can spend the time most ‘wisely’.
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I’ve spent a lot of time on social media to try and remain connected with the world outside my house and this has actually been brilliant. I’ve ended up connecting with lots of people from a jazz collective I have lessons from in London who I probably wouldn’t have got the chance to speak to had we not been in lockdown. ⠀⠀
Another product of my boredom has been me shaving my head. It was something I’d wanted to do for a while after seeing Ellesse Char‘s short film ‘omg she’s bald’ where she interviewed other women who had shaved their heads. My mum suggested that I pick a charity to raise money for when I did it so I chose Bloody Good Period . They are a charity who provide period products to people affected by period poverty and at this time that was clearly an important cause to me. In the end we managed to raise £615 which was well over the target £100.’
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